Day 1
Friday

Vilnius-Trakai-Vilnius

Arrival in Vilnius. Private transfer to hotel. Accommodation.

Vilnius (in Yiddish: Vilne) used to be a very important Jewish center in Europe. From the 14th century onwards Jews settled in the city, and by the 18th century Vilne had become the world center of traditional Talmudic learning, eventually becoming known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania, or more generally, the Jerusalem of the North. Short introduction to Jewish history of Lithuania.

First visit to the Jewish Cultural Centre and/or the Jewish school.            

Drive to Trakai - the ancient capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania not far from Vilnius, which is famous for its island castle. After drive to Ponar (Paneriai) – a neighbourhood of Vilnius, situated about 10 kilometres away from the city center. It is the largest elderate in the Vilnius city municipality. It is located on low forested hills, on the Vilnius-Warsaw road. Paneriai was the site of the Ponary massacre, a mass killing of as many as 100,000 people (mostly Jews and Poles), from Vilnius and nearby towns and villages during World War II.

Overnight in Vilnius.

Day 2

Saturday

Vilnius

Vilnius city tour including the main historic and architectural monuments of the town. Medieval Jewish Quarter its lanes and courts, Gaon and Jewish streets, the history of  Great Synagogue of Vilna, the personality of Gaon of Vilna. World famous Jewish printing house “Widow and Brothers Romm”. Ghettos of Vilna where more than 40.000 Jews were concentrated in 1941-1943, the building of Judenrath of the  Rudininku street.

Also visit to the The Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum  telling a tragic story of the Jewish community.

The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum is a national, government-financed institution that collects, conserves, investigates, restores and exhi  bits the historical, material and spiritual heritage of Lithuanian Jews, traditional and modern Jewish objects of art and documents and objects connected with the Holocaust. The museum has five branches. They demonstrate different aspects of the historical and cultural heritage and tragedy of Jews.

Day 3

Sunday

Vilnius

First day visit to Vilnius University. The Centre of Non-state Languages (the former Center

for Judaism Studies) of Vilnius University is active in the sphere of preservation and dissemination of Jewish heritage. There is also the Yiddish Institute, in which the Yiddish language is taught and Yiddish literature is fostered. The Department  of Yiddish Language and Literature was established at the end of 1940, but survived only until the beginning of the war in Lithuania. The Head of the Department, Docent Noach Prilutski managed to publish a book on the history of the Jewish theatre and he prepared and conducted several courses on the Yiddish language and culture.

Later you will see Monument to Tsemakh Shabad. Tsemakh Shabad was a l  egendary personality. The doctor was active in various spheres of life, including charity (he was one of the heads of the community for supporting refugees), health care (as founder of the Ozė health community in Vilnius), education and science (as an active figure in the Central Jewish Schools Organisation and one of the initiators of the establishment of YIVO), public affairs (together with J. Vygodskij he re-established the Vilnius Jewish Community) and journalism.

The last visit to Jewish cemetery (Olandų St.). The cemetery is the place of eternal rest of Jewish public and religious figures. Overnight in Vilnius.

Day 4

Monday

Vilnius-Kaunas

Morning departure to Kaunas.

City tour includes the most interesting – architectural and historic monuments in the Old Town; former Kaunas Jewish ghetto; Sugihara Center; Kaunas Choral Synagogue.  Kaunas Choral Synagogue is striking for its black and golden colors, as w  ell as its Children's Memorial. From Synagogue you’ll be able to pass the house where the poet Leah Goldberg once lived, and visit the area that once contained the vibrant Jewish Ghetto, ultimately incinerated by the Nazis. Stand at the spot where the members of the Kaunas Ghetto once lined up and waited as Nazi officers assigned their fate.

Also you will visit the Ninth Fort Museum, a former death site of thousands of Jewish nationals during the World War II. There Jews were imprisoned overnight, only to be executed in the surrounding open fields the next morning. Visit the Museum within the fort, and pay respects at the memorials on the open grounds which surround it.

Overnight in Kaunas.

Day 5

Tuesday

Kaunas-Kedainiai-Zagare-Riga

Trip to Riga – the capital of Latvia with few en route stops.

First stop in Kedainiai city. Visit to Kedainiai synagogue. The new synagogue was built in the middle of the 19th century. It was built by the town’s richest tailor I. Vilneris. It is a two-story building. Men would pray on the first floor and women on the second floor. Two memorial tables in Lithuanian and Hebrew were placed on the wall of this synagogue in memory of the great Jewish religious thinker Gaon Elijahu of Vilnius. The old Kedainiai synagogue stands at the same place.

Other stop in Zagare village. Zagare's Jewish Community was one of the first in all of Lithuania, and in the Jamote District specifically. The community can apparently trace its beginnings to the 16th century. The first Jewish settlers dealt in leasing the privilege of tax and custom collection, and traded in salts and metals imported from abroad. Others traded in the exports of honey, beeswax and hides. There were craftsmen as well. Eventually two separate communities arose in the city's two sections. Each community had its own rabbis, cantors, ritual slaughterers (shochtim), and even separate cemeteries.

Finally arrival in Riga for overnight.

Day 6

Wednesday

Riga

Day to get acquainted with Riga Jewish life.

First  visit to the small but informative Jewish Documentation Center, part of a museum which exhibits Jewish Life from the 18th Century to the present. This Center vividly illustrates how the Jews played a major role among intellectual Latvian society , and how their magnificent community was nonetheless cruelly destroyed during the Holocaust. The newest historic section of this museum illustrates how Jewish Life in Latvia was reborn after its independence; the exhibit is named: "The Jewish People Survived!"

Later visit the only remaining Synagogue, which today serves as the central meeting place for the Jews of Latvia. Standing since the beginning of the 20th century, the synagogue was most likely spared from burning due to its fortunate location in the Old Town, where fires could be devastating to the surrounding buildings. Continue to the outskirts of town for a visit to the well-maintained, Russian-inspired Jewish Cemetery. Then  stop at the site of the Jewish Ghetto, where only small traces remain of the brave Jewish life within. A short stroll takes you to the ruins of the Chorale Synagogue, cruelly torched by the Nazis as the entire congregation prayed inside. Later, visit the chic "Art Nouveau" district, where many prominent Jewish Latvians, among them the philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin, once lived. Riga has one of the world's most impressive collections of authentic Art Nouveau architecture, and uniquely offers streets whose buildings are preserved almost entirely in this early 20th Century style.

Day 7

Thursday

Riga-Sigulda-Tallinn

Morning  moving visit to the Memorial to the victims of the Nazis. At this site, obscured by dense forest, the Nazis herded thousand of victims to be executed and buried in the anonymity of mass graves. Jews were brought from as far away as Austria and Germany; many Latvians and Russians were killed at this site as well. The current monument was unveiled only in 2001, and it illustrates th  e persistent Jewish soul and its refusal to be forgotten.

Later drive alongside the Riga Bay to Tallinn.

En route stop in Sigulda, located in the picturesque Gauja Valley dotted with caves and castles. Sigulda is often called the Latvian Switzerland. There you can visit the Medieval Sigulda Castle, Sigulda new Castle (Kropotkin Palace), Krimulda Manor and other historical and natural objects. Late afternoon arrival to Estonia's capital.

Day 8

Friday

Tallinn

This morning, enjoy a tour of the charming city of Tallinn, Estonia, rated by several travel magazines as one of Europe's best-kept secrets, and placed on UNESCO's list of "World Heritage" sites. Drive to the Old Town on top of a hill, to find breathtaking views of the tiled roofs and colorful houses below. Stroll the beautifully preserved Medieval streets and become a part of Tallinn's thousand year-old history.  Walk past the impressive Alexander Nevski Cathedral to the Town Hall Square. Continue to the intimate Tallinn Jewish Center for coffee, tea, and cake, before entering the lively Lower Town. Free time to browse and relax before driving to the Kadriorg Palace, built by Peter the Great of Russia, now the home of the President of Estonia. Overnight in Tallinn.

Day 9

Saturday

Tallinn

End of the tour. Departure.